The A's, who finished a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays with an 8-1 loss Sunday, flew to Boston Sunday night and start a three-game series with the Red Sox Monday at Fenway Park.

According to sources, the son of A's senior account manager Phil Chapman is a friend of the injured boy and Chapman helped to set up the meeting along with Heather Rajeski, the club's senior manager of promotion & events.

All three of the A's participants say they are enthused about the opportunity to meet Hern, who has had multiple surgeries to deal with shrapnel received in his leg after the second bomb exploded last Monday. He and his family were on hand as his mother, Katherine, competed in the Marathon.

``I can't wait to go,'' Moss said. ``I'm excited to meet him. It's a terrible thing that happened. I can only imagine what he's gone through.''

Reddick, who played for the Red Sox until last year, said he is always happy to get a chance ``to brighten someone's day,'' but he wasn't at all sure that Hern wouldn't be the one inspiring the A's instead.

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Hern and his family have already received some high-profile guests, including the First Lady. Michelle Obama stopped by Boston Children's Hospital last Thursday when President Obama was in Boston to speak and met with all the Herns.

``Normally, it might be a case where we go to visit and tell some stories,'' Waller said. ``But I'm going to ask him to tell us the story of having Michelle Obama visit.

``You think about all that's happened to him. He's an 11-year-old on vacation and all this crazy stuff happens. You can't necessarily make sense of it, by maybe we can help him look past it. They say the surgeries have gone well and he's got a good long life ahead of him.''